Gravity Falls - Cold Starry Winter
by Sir-Spoder
Summary: One year after the events of Weirdmageddon, Stan and Ford have been through much together on their around the world trip, encountering many strange anomalies. All of which were nothing compared to what they are about to discover at the cold Arctic of the southern glaciers, large storms of cold winters, can the two brothers make it back in time for Christmas? Prequel to a crossover.


It was hard to believe that it had been more than a year since the Mystery Twins left Gravity Falls for their little around the world trip. The Stan o'War II seemed to be holding up pretty well still. Old girl was strong, still hungry for adventures. But ol' Stanley really needed to get into shape, at least that was what Ford thought anyway. Old man really let himself go in these past couple years.

But ol' Ford did not blame his brother. This trip wasn't just for mere fun, for the mere idea of adventure. There was much work to be done – across the States, South America, India, the UK, and now Antarctica. The paranormal anomalies popped up all over the place. Some of them harmless, and was easy to contain, others were not. Like Ripper Town in London, a small section isolated from time and space where time never advanced past the Victorian era of 1880s. Old Jack was a handful, an alien from a parallel universe, wanted across several star systems where he came from. Ford insisted on dealing with this one quickly because he too was wanted across the vast cosmos, and he wasn't about to let himself be captured by the space cops.

How could he? Christmas was right around the corner, sending cards behind the jail cells was a suboptimal strategy to get back to Gravity Falls for the holiday. Not that the twins could tell the difference, though. The regional temperature was absolutely off the chart. Sitting comfortably at -201 degrees Fahrenheit, almost twice as cold as the coldest recorded temperature in history. No doubt about it, this was definitely an anomaly.

"Check the readings again for me Stanley," said Ford, as the two of them worked inside this massive tent made out of a special polymer Ford synthesized when they first got here.

The weather was unforgiving, big storms brewing and sharp breezes, and they got to work immediately when they first arrived, it didn't leave a lot of room for tidy organization, as long as their main equipment were up and running it didn't really matter how many toolboxes were lying around unsorted and how messy their cots were. The spilled coffee stains froze as soon as they caught onto the surface of any of the fabric, many sleepless nights meant clumsy hands. It couldn't be helped.

"It hasn't dropped since we got here," Stan replied, tapping on the glass gauge. "Is it a monster?"

"Can't say for sure. There's a large storm brewing from the east right into the central region. It's obscuring a lot of the other readings and scans. Camera drones are no good either."

"If it's anything like that giant shark we found near the coast of Brazil, then you better let me punch it in the face this time. Saw some guy do it in a movie once, and I want to feel relatable when I watch it again."

"Focus now. The sooner we get rid of this anomaly, the sooner we can pack our things and leave for Gravity Falls."

"Of course, right… you're right, Poindexter," Stan sighed.

"Hmm… you alright there? Something on your mind?"

"I… um… well…"

"You're obviously less enthusiastic and less energetic in the last three months from my observations."

"Please don't tell me you keep a psychological profile of me cataloguing them by months."

"I've been doing that since we were six."

"Ha, well… there's no hiding anything from you then. Look… I'm glad we've been spending time with one another, but it's been a long time…"

"And you miss the kids, don't you?" Ford nodded his head.

"How did you know?"

Ford stood up from where he sat, dusting his palms off from the cold. And laid his hand right onto Stan's shoulder.

"Because I miss them, too," he said, smiling with great melancholy.

The moments for rest and comforting one another were short unfortunately, because there was something bizarre about the temperature of the tent – it was rising.

Not possible, thought Ford. This special polymer should be able to keep up with the increasing cold, adapting instantly the lower the temperature dropped. But somehow the blizzard's lungs and its powerful breath blew through, overwhelming this technology.

"Stanford, what's going on? These readings are going bananas."

"I… I… I don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know? I thought you knew everything."

"Don't be absurd, Stanley," said Ford. "Something's wrong. We better go outside and check the tent. If it falls, we're all going to freeze to death. Grab your blaster."

"Aye, aye, captain."

Dashing through the entrance, looking about as the cold winds blew stronger, the two brothers scrambled to get a strong foothold into the thick snow that instantly swallowed up to their knees. They knew that they were alone when they first arrived here on this thick ice continental plate. Ford's scanners explicitly confirmed so. But now… not even Ford was sure to trust his equipment. Something was going on here, and it wasn't like anything they had ever faced before. Not since Bill had the two twins felt this looming sense of dread lurking behind the shadows of the blue winter.

"Something's definitely going on. The winds are blowing south-east, explicitly opposite the direction where we need to go."

"Are you crazy? I am not going deeper into that storm unless I know exactly what's inside," Stan shouted through the wind.

"_We don't have a choice_. Come on! This could be the work of an interdimensional portal for all we know. We have to…"

The furious wind stopped.

But only for a brief moment, merely enough for the two brothers to take notice of their surroundings just to eventually realize something was raining out of the dark blue sky. It wasn't rain, or even hail. It was something else entirely.

The pellets were the size of a large rock, with some of them big enough to hold in both palms of one's hands. But when they finally reached close enough to be in sight, Stan and Ford realized that these weren't frozen pellets at all.

They were sharks.

Tiny frozen sharks wiggling within the frozen lumps that chained them frozen.

Were these baby sharks? They were so small, and somehow still alive as well, even though they were trapped deep within the grip of the cold. Where did they come from? Stan wondered. Beginning to panic as he looked all about, but the blowing of the blizzard blinded his goggles, making it difficult to make out the distance far.

"My watch is going crazy," said Ford, trying to wipe the frost off his wrist.

"That's it, I've had it," cried Stan, "I'm getting my harpoon. I'll spear these sharks before they spear me."

"Stanley, stop. We have to stick together."

"If we don't do something now, we're both going to die. Do you want to die?"

"Stanley, you don't understand what we're up against! What we've been through!"

"No, no, you're the one who don't understand. I'm trying to keep the two of us safe here. You only care about yourself!"

"I'm selfish? I'm selfish, Stanley? How can you say that after costing me my dream school?"

"Some brother you turned out to be. You left me behind, you jerk! It was supposed to be us forever, you ruined my life!"

"YOU RUINED YOUR OWN… wait… what is going on here?"

Stan stood there in shock, only just now realizing the words that came out of his mouth. A large powerful gust of wind then blew from the North, alerting them to the distance far. It was as if a voice was calling from yonder, from the eye of the storm. Revealing deep secrets of paranormal unknowns, unknowns of the Unknown. In the ice, lodged deep in slumber was a massive shadow, too big to be human, or any animal on the planet for that matter. A minion from Bill's dimension?

No – this entity looked familiar.

Ford's watch kept on spinning and spinning, in reverse no less. Bent by this supernatural force of great power.

There in the distance where the storm brewed even stronger – a bizarre noise:

Ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping…

The noise rumbled deep in their ears, ringing in their minds. It felt like a bad omen. Ford was a man of science however, he did not believe all that much in omens. Quantifiable prophecies perhaps, but this unknown was too big.

His brother Stan on the other hand…

Ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping…

It kept on ringing and ringing.

Ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping.

_BOOM!_

Only to then detonate with a deafening explosion of the cold space above the two brothers, creating a massive boom that tore the ice apart. The light of the boom was bright, descending from on high, it was loud, too loud – difficult to comprehend, for it was a sound neither Stan nor Ford had ever heard before in their entire lives, as if their brains were physically incapable of processing it.

The power of the Fourth World cometh.

Bringing back visions of the distant past, visions of a portal, a portal from the boom or a portal from the past? A vision of two brothers fighting another, and the tragedy that struck them – the punishment dealt out by God to the one cursed to wander the earth.

"Stanford… what's going on?" Said Stan trying to keep his balance on the cracking ice and deep snow.

"I… I don't know…"

Stan made the extra effort to march towards his brother, grabbing him by the collar of his coat. The problem here was Stan quickly realized that he was not in control of his body, not anymore.

"Stanford, I can't," he said as his hands began to move on its own, reenacting this familiar scene, "Stanford, do something!"

"Calm down, calm down. Take a deep breath and let go!"

"I… I can't."

Then as if by magic, or other bizarre forces, Ford's body began to lift off from the ground, gravity rising. Slowly drifting towards the portal from the booming light afar.

Ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping!

"Stanley, run!" Ford commanded. "Run and don't look back!"

"No! I just got you back, I can't lose you again!" Cried Stan.

Resistance is futile, as I, the Dream commanded. Here you see the portal dragging Ford from the grip of his brother, with Stan involuntarily pushing Ford away, commanded by the familiarity of the past.

"Stanford! NO!"

Ford looked back to his brother, dreamy eyes, tears in his eyes. He felt his brother's pain, his guilt. And thus, to comfort him, he said the only thing he could think of then:

"Live… for me…"

The power of the Fourth World cometh.

* * *

_**AN: A Gravity Falls prequel chapter to a crossover. Just a short story this one, won't be too long. Planned to have this published during Christmas, but that went out the window because real life. RIP in pieces. Check out the upcoming Chapter 9 of Into the Star-Verse to find out what happens to Grunkle Ford.**_


End file.
